Geographically off topic -- but right on target

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

I came across a wonderful post on the Cemetery Traveler blog about a visit to an abandoned Jewish cemetery in Gladwyne, PA  -- only a few miles from where I grew up in suburban Philadelphia.

The description of the abandoned site -- and the evocative photographs taken by the blogger, Ed Snyder -- are so similar to those of people exploring abandoned Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe that I felt I had to repost.

Snyder writes:

Walking through this place is a MUST for any cemetery explorer – you may be appalled, afraid, amazed, or desire to use the location for your next zombie movie. You walk into the place and it starts off quaint - the tilted headstones, the  lone cradle graves. As you walk further through the weeds, you begin to see small clusters of graves, surrounded by rusty decorative fencing. Most of the fencing has fallen to the ground and is waiting for you to trip over. [...]

The history of this place is not well-documented. The fragments of supposed fact come from letters and oral recollections. "Har Ha Zetim Cemetery", aka Gladwyne Jewish Cemetery and "Mount of Olives," was supposedly established in 1860, and served the poor Jewish population of Philadelphia and Norristown until the 1920s. No doubt some of the the people interred here emigrated from Russia during the pogrom in 1881. The fact that this exodus occurred on Passover of that year oddly coincides with my writing this blog on the eve of Passover, 2012. [...]

Walking through Gladwyne's Abandoned Jewish Cemetery is not like finding a lonely outcropping of headstones in a farmer’s field somewhere – this was a COMMUNITY! A community of ancestors, now lost to the ages. But as you walk through the lanes of graves, the presence of all these people is alive in the air, they were REAL. They lived. They had rites, manners, and customs that were as real to them as ours are to us.

 Read the full post 

Snyder provides  links to further reading about abandoned Jewish cemeteries in the Philadelphia area, including this article from the Forward in 2004 about a Jewish cemetery in west Philadelphia that explicitly makes the parallel with the rediscovery of Jewish cemeteries in eastern and Central Europe, and his own blog post about the site.

Off Geographical Topic -- historic synagogues being razed in US

By Ruth Ellen Gruber


Every so often I like (or actually dislike) to post news demonstrating how some of the issues regarding what to do with deteriorating or dilapidated synagogues also affect buildings in the United States. Of course, the history is different: the buildings in the US did not lose their congregations because of the Holocaust (or communist pressure) but by normal demographic shifts. Still, there are parallels about preservation versus urban development; funding, memory, and the significance of built heritage.

Two cases in the U.S. are current: the planned demolition of the historic Anshe Kenesseth Israel synagogue building in Chicago, and the threatened demolition of the former Ahavath Sholom synagogue, in Buffalo, NY.

In Chicago, architectural blogger Lee Bey reports that

The old Anshe Kenesseth Israel temple, 3411 W. Douglas Blvd, will come down by force of an emergency demolition order issued by a judge last December. Preservationists, neighborhood residents and the building's owners, Abundant Life World Outreach ministry, had been working to delay demolition and develop a fundraising and reuse plan for the building, As recently as last Sunday, they cleaned up the building's exterior in hopes of convincing the city not to raze the structure.

The owners changed their mind, he reports, and demolition was expected to begin very soon. The once-grand synagogue was built in 1913,  when the neighborhood was largely Jewish. Later, as the neighborhood changed, it became an African-American Baptist church, where Martin Luther King spoke in the 1960s. It closed about a decade ago and has since stood empty. Lee Bey provides vivid photographic documentation  that shows its dual history.

There is a lengthy article, with pictures, about the Buffalo synagogue on the FixBuffalo blog. Built in 1903,  too became a church,  Greater New Hope Church of God in Christ, in the 1960s and has stood empty for a decade. The demolition order was issued in December, despite the fact that the building has been designated a local landmark.

In December, Housing Court Judge Patrick Carney issued an order to demolish the City's oldest synagogue, one of the last remaining vestiges of Jewish life on the City's East Side.    The familiar onion domed landmark on Jefferson Avenue was designed by A. E. Minks and Sons and built in 1903.  With the cooperation of Rev. Jerome Ferrell and his congregation, the Greater New Hope Church of God in Christ, this historic structure was designated a local landmark by the City's Preservation Board in 1997. 

Samuel D. Gruber discusses the case of the Buffalo synagogue on his blog. 

The structure is now empty and in disrepair.  The building is one of the last standing synagogue of the "facade-dome" type that was popular at the end of the 19th century.  

Architecturally, the building is most readily notable for its single 'onion' style dome set over the central entrance bay of the facade.  Variations of this type of arrangement are known in synagogue architecture beginning in Europe in the mid-19th century.  One example is the destroyed synagogue of Jelgava, Latvia.  The style was especially common in Moorish style buildings such as Ahavath Sholom.  Major American examples include Temple Sinai in Chicago (Dankmar Adler, arch.) and Temple Beth El in New York (Brunner & Tryon, archs.) which were demolished decades ago. Tiny Gemiluth Chassed in Port Gibson, Mississippi survives. Time may not be long for Buffalo's Ahavath Sholom, but local efforts to save the building may stave off the wrecking ball. [...] 

You can read more about the synagogue in this article by Chana Kotzin from the February 10, 2012  issue of the Buffalo Jewish Review.  Kotzin runs the Buffalo Jewish archives and has been collecting history about the building, its congregation and the old East Side Jewish neighborhood. 

 There is a Flickr feed of photos of the synagogue HERE.

Way off Geographic Topic but interesting (and related)

I've been in California for the past couple of weeks, very busy with a series of lectures and family commitments, so have not posted anything recently.

This past week, though, I spent a day in the Gold Rush region of northeastern California, visiting the town of Placerville and also Sutter's Mill, where the first gold was found that sparked the 1849 Gold Rush. (I stayed at the "Motherlode Motel".)

My friend Francesco Spagnolo, of the Magnes Museum in Berkeley -- which has an extraordinarily rich collection of Jewish history and culture in the American West -- had mentioned to me that there was a Pioneer Jewish cemetery in Placerville -- so of course I found it and took pictures. A tiny plot with about 18 markers, very well maintained, in a shaded corner of a residential neighborhood just off Highway 50.

In fact, there are about half a dozen Jewish cemeteries in the Gold Rush region -- in the towns of  Jackson, Mokelumne Hill, Sonora, Placerville, Grass Valley, and Nevada City. The Magnes Museum has a wonderful collection of photographs documenting them. Taken by the photographer Ira Nowinski in the mid 1980s, these have been posted online as a Flickr gallery. They show some charming iconography -- including one carved image of a wife and children mourning at the tomb of the father/husband.

United States -- neglected Jewish cemeteries are also an issue

Sue Fishkoff has written an important article on JTA highlighting the plight of abandoned Jewish cemeteries -- not in Eastern Europe, but in the United States. Brava Sue!

The plight is far worse in Europe, where thousands of cemeteries lie abandoned in the wake of the Holocaust. But it is important for North American Jews to recognize that there is a similar issue exists "at home," wherever Jews have moved away or moved on. Sue cites the Jewish Cemetery Project of the International Association of Jewish Genealogy Societies as listing at least 1,375 Jewish cemeteries in the United States and 72 in Canada. (There are about that many Jewish cemeteries in Hungary alone, most of them abandoned.)

Shouldering the burden of forgotten cemeteries

By Sue Fishkoff, · September 20, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) -- The old Jewish cemetery in Eufaula, Ala., hasn’t been used in years.
“The monuments are just crumbling,” said Sara Hamm.

She and her family are the last Jews living in this once-booming cotton and railway town on the banks of the Chattahoochee River.

The Jewish cemetery’s first burial dates from 1845, when German Jews began arriving as merchants and dry goods salesmen. They bought a synagogue in 1873, but sold it in the early 1900s when their numbers dwindled to several dozen. The cemetery, with its 84 burial plots, fell into disrepair.

In the mid-1980s Hamm’s grandmother Jennie Rudderman began restoring it, righting headstones and clearing away brush. After she died in 1999, Hamm took over as volunteer caretaker. But the job is wearing her down.

“It’s been left to its own accord now, like everything else in small-town America,” she said.
Similar stories repeat across the land, from the rust belt of western Pennsylvania to the Bible Belt in the South.

As factories closed down and populations shifted westward, once-thriving Jewish communities declined and synagogues shut their doors. The only thing left behind, in many cases, were the cemeteries -- with no one, or almost no one, to take care of them.

“The Jewish community knows there is a problem of abandoned cemeteries, but they feel it’s someone else’s problem, or the problem of the descendants of those buried there,” said Gary Katz, president of the 4-year-old Community Association for Jewish At-Risk Cemeteries, or CAJAC, which spearheads efforts to clean and maintain distressed cemeteries in New York City. “But throughout Jewish history, cemeteries have been a communal responsibility.”

 Read full story at JTA by clicking HERE

 

January in New York City

January in New York City  

by  Rosalie Scott

From cheaper flights and hotels to discount shopping and dining, travelling to New York after the holidays is a perfect way to see the city for a fraction of the regular price. It may be windy and cold in January, but the culture and excitement of New York City is always hot!

Ice Skating in New York City

When you think about lacing up your skates and gliding around a New York City skating rink, the iconic image comes to mind of skaters circling the rink at Rockefeller Center. But if you are curious to try something different and explore other New York City skating rinks, check out the Pond at Bryant Park. As the only free outdoor skating rink in New York, the Pond is a popular winter destination nestled in the heart of midtown Manhattan. Skate rentals and lockers are available.

Other outdoor venues for ice skating in New York City are located in picturesque Central Park at the Wollman Rink (east side between 62nd and 63rd Streets) and the Lasker Rink (between 106th and 108th Streets.)

NYC Restaurant Week

Curious about Cafe Boulud, Mesa Grill or Gramercy Tavern? NYC Restaurant Week is the best way to eat at some of the most renowned restaurants in New York City without breaking the bank. This week of delicious dining on a dime takes place twice a year and visitors travelling to New York City in January should plan to take advantage of this wildly popular event.

Photo by plate of the day



Participating restaurants offer a set menu for lunch and dinner at a fixed priced, typically offering customers two or three choices for each course. This event allows foodies a chance to try out some of the most talked about eateries in the city, including many helmed by celebrity chefs, at far less expensive prices.


Reserving a Table During NYC Restaurant Week
For information on participating NYC Restaurant Week eateries, their special Restaurant Week menus and dates of the event, visit www.nycgo.com/restaurantweek. Call your dining destination of choice well in advance to reserve as tables book up very quickly. Reservations can also be made for several of the restaurants at Open Table, which is a free site where diners can book their reservations online. With each reservation made, points are accrued towards gift certificates at participating eateries.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day in New York City

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a U.S. holiday commemorating the great civil rights leader who was assassinated in 1968. Each year the holiday falls on the third Monday of January, close to his birth date of January 15th. There are numerous celebrations, events and tributes organized throughout the five boroughs of New York City on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service
Every January, thousands of community service projects take place across the U.S. in honour of Dr. King’s teachings on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. The slogan of this national day of community service is “Make it a day ON, not a day OFF” and the goal is to empower individuals to work together to strengthen their communities.

Photo by kugelfish

There is plenty to see and do in New York City in January, so bundle up and enjoy!


About the Author: http://NewYorkJourney.com will give you a comprehensive look at several hotels, attractions, shops and more in the Big Apple. Get the information you need to know before you travel and make sure you get to see and stay at the best of the best in New York City.
Article Source: ActiveAuthors.com
Photo Source: flickr.com , wikipedia.org

Detroit -- Saving a City's Last synagogue

This is from the U.S., not Europe -- but the issues resonate; dwindling Jewish population; deteriorating synagogue; changing neighborhood.... what's to be done?

The Detroit News reports that downtown Detroit's last functioning synagogue is under threat....

Saving Detroit's Last Synagogue December 18, 2008)

Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News

The Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue is the last of its kind -- the sole building in Detroit still functioning as a Jewish place of worship.

Unless something changes fast, the downtown synagogue may become history. A group of young would-be rescuers find themselves at odds with some of the synagogue's old guard.

Since Rabbi Noah Gamze died in 2003, the synagogue has been void of a spiritual leader. The four-story building on Griswold and Clifford streets barely clings to life; the top two floors are vacant and the roof leaks.

At the Saturday morning Shabbat -- the only regular weekly service -- the handful of members who attend often need to recruit the African-American owner of the nightclub next door to reach minyan -- the minimum of 10 males older than age 13 needed for a Jewish public worship.

The synagogue may have recruited the right gentile: Larry Mongo, owner of Café D'Mongo's Speakeasy. Since opening a little over a year ago, Mongo's club and restaurant have become a haven for Detroit's café society -- the creative and professional class returning to the city's core. Some are twentysomething Jews including D'Mongo's bartender and Wayne State University student Courtney Smith. She and seven others -- calling themselves the Detroit Action Synagogue Committee -- want to save the downtown synagogue. Among them are a nonprofit lawyer, a pharmaceutical salesperson and an academic. They want a chance to turn the synagogue into a major piece of downtown's revitalization, tapping into the arts and cultural scene.

"We don't want to just save the building. We want it to be a hub for the people returning to the city and the energy that represents," Smith said.

READ FULL STORY